Τροιζὴν δὲ ἱερά ἐστι Ποσειδῶνος, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ Ποσειδωνία ποτὲ ἐλέγετο· ὑπέρκειται δὲ τῆς θαλάττης εἰς πεντεκαίδεκα σταδίους, οὐδʼ αὕτη ἄσημος πόλις. πρόκειται δὲ τοῦ λιμένος αὐτῆς Πώγωνος τοὔνομα Καλαυρία νησίδιον ὅσον τριάκοντα σταδίων ἔχον τὸν κύκλον· ἐνταῦθα ἦν ἄσυλον Ποσειδῶνος ἱερόν, καί φασι τὸν θεὸν τοῦτον ἀλλάξασθαι πρὸς μὲν Λητὼ τὴν Καλαυρίαν ἀντιδόντα Δῆλον, πρὸς Ἀπόλλωνα δὲ Ταίναρον ἀντιδόντα Πυθώ. Ἔφορος δὲ καὶ τὸν χρησμὸν λέγει ἶσόν τοι Δῆλόν τε Καλαύρειάν τε νέμεσθαι, / Πυθώ τʼ ἠγαθέην καὶ Ταίναρον ἠνεμόεντα. / ἦν δὲ καὶ Ἀμφικτυονία τις περὶ τὸ ἱερὸν τοῦτο ἑπτὰ πόλεων αἳ μετεῖχον τῆς θυσίας· ἦσαν δὲ Ἑρμιὼν Ἐπίδαυρος Αἴγινα Ἀθῆναι Πρασιεῖς Ναυπλιεῖς Ὀρχομενὸς ὁ Μινύειος· ὑπὲρ μὲν οὖν Ναυπλιέων Ἀργεῖοι συνετέλουν, ὑπὲρ Πρασιέων δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι. οὕτω δʼ ἐπεκράτησεν ἡ τιμὴ τοῦ θεοῦ τούτου παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ὥστε καὶ Μακεδόνες δυναστεύοντες ἤδη μέχρι δεῦρο ἐφύλαττόν πως τὴν ἀσυλίαν, καὶ τοὺς ἱκέτας ἀποσπᾶν ᾐδοῦντο τοὺς εἰς Καλαυρίαν καταφυγόντας· ὅπου γε οὐδὲ Δημοσθένη ἐθάρρησεν Ἀρχίας βιάσασθαι στρατιώτας ἔχων, ᾧ προσετέτακτο ὑπὸ Ἀντιπάτρου ζῶντα ἀγαγεῖν κἀκεῖνον καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ῥητόρων ὃν ἂν εὕρῃ τῶν ἐν ταῖς αἰτίαις ὄντων ταῖς παραπλησίοις, ἀλλὰ πείθειν ἐπειρᾶτο· οὐ μὴν ἔπεισέ γε, ἀλλʼ ἔφθη φαρμάκῳ παραλύσας ἑαυτὸν τοῦ ζῆν. Τροιζὴν δὲ καὶ Πιτθεὺς οἱ Πέλοπος ὁρμηθέντες ἐκ τῆς Πισάτιδος ὁ μὲν τὴν πόλιν ὁμώνυμον ἑαυτοῦ κατέλιπεν, ὁ δὲ Πιτθεὺς ἐβασίλευσεν ἐκεῖνον διαδεξάμενος. Ἄνθης δʼ ὁ προκατέχων πλεύσας Ἁλικαρνασὸν ἔκτισεν· ἐροῦμεν δʼ ἐν τοῖς Καρικοῖς […] ον καὶ τοῖς Τρωικοῖς.
Troezen is sacred to Neptune, from whom it was formerly called Poseidonia. It is situated 15 stadia from the sea. Nor is this an obscure city. In front of its harbour, called Pogon, lies Calauria, a small island, of about 30 stadia in compass. Here was a temple of Neptune, which served as an asylum for fugitives. It is said that this god exchanged Delos for Calauria with Latona, and Taenarum for Pytho with Apollo. Ephorus mentions the oracle respecting it: It is the same thing to possess Delos, or Calauria, / The divine Pytho, or the windy Taenarum. /
There was a sort of Amphictyonic body to whom the concerns of this temple belonged, consisting of seven cities, which performed sacrifices in common. These were Hermon, Epidaurus, Aegina, Athenae, Prasiae, Nauplia, and Orchomenus Minyeius. The Argives contributed in behalf of Nauplia, and the Lacedaemonians in behalf of Prasiae. The veneration for this god prevailed so strongly among the Greeks, that the Macedonians, even when masters of the country, nevertheless preserved even to the present time the privilege of the asylum, and were restrained by shame from dragging away the suppliants who took refuge at Calauria. Archias even, with a body of soldiers, did not dare to use force to Demosthenes, although he had received orders from Antipater to bring him alive, and all other orators he could find, who were accused of the same crimes. He attempted persuasion, hut in vain, for Demosthenes deprived himself of life by taking poison in the temple.
Troezen and Pittheus, the sons of Pelops, having set out from Pisatis to Argos, the former left behind him a city of his own name; Pittheus succeeded him, and became king. Anthes, who occupied the territory before, set sail, and founded Halicarnassus. We shall speak of him in our account of Caria and the Troad.
ἡ Ἐπίδαυρος δʼ ἐκαλεῖτο Ἐπίταυρος· φησὶ δὲ Ἀριστοτέλης κατασχεῖν αὐτὴν Κᾶρας, ὥσπερ καὶ Ἑρμιόνα, τῶν δὲ Ἡρακλειδῶν κατελθόντων Ἴωνας αὐτοῖς συνοικῆσαι τοὺς ἐκ τῆς Ἀττικῆς τετραπόλεως συνεπομένους εἰς Ἄργος. καὶ αὕτη δʼ οὐκ ἄσημος ἡ πόλις καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ θεραπεύειν νόσους παντοδαπὰς πεπιστευμένου, καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν πλῆρες ἔχοντος ἀεὶ τῶν τε καμνόντων καὶ τῶν ἀνακειμένων πινάκων, ἐν οἷς ἀναγεγραμμέναι τυγχάνουσιν αἱ θεραπεῖαι, καθάπερ ἐν Κῷ τε καὶ Τρίκκῃ. κεῖται δʼ ἡ πόλις ἐν μυχῷ τοῦ Σαρωνικοῦ κόλπου, τὸν περίπλουν ἔχουσα σταδίων πεντεκαίδεκα, βλέπουσα πρὸς ἀνατολὰς θερινάς· περικλείεται δʼ ὄρεσιν ὑψηλοῖς μέχρι πρὸς τὴν θάλατταν, ὥστʼ ἐρυμνὴ κατεσκεύασται φυσικῶς πανταχόθεν. μεταξὺ δὲ Τροιζῆνος καὶ Ἐπιδαύρου χωρίον ἦν ἐρυμνὸν Μέθανα καὶ χερρόνησος ὁμώνυμος τούτῳ· παρὰ Θουκυδίδῃ δὲ ἔν τισιν ἀντιγράφοις Μεθώνη φέρεται ὁμωνύμως τῇ Μακεδονικῇ, ἐν ᾗ Φίλιππος ἐξεκόπη τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν πολιορκῶν· διόπερ οἴεταί τινας ἐξαπατηθέντας ὁ Σκήψιος Δημήτριος τὴν ἐν τῇ Τροιζηνίᾳ Μεθώνην ὑπονοεῖν, καθʼ ἧς ἀράσασθαι λέγεται τοὺς ὑπʼ Ἀγαμέμνονος πεμφθέντας ναυτολόγους μηδέποτε παύσασθαι τειχοδομεῖν, οὐ τούτων ἀλλὰ τῶν Μακεδόνων ἀνανευσάντων, ὥς φησι Θεόπομπος· τούτους δʼ οὐκ εἰκὸς ἐγγὺς ὄντας ἀπειθῆσαι.
Epidaurus was called Epitaurus [Epicarus?]. Aristotle says, that Carians occupied both this place and Hermione, but upon the return of the Heracleidae those Ionians, who had accompanied them from the Athenian Tetrapolis to Argos, settled there together with the Carians.
Epidaurus was a distinguished city, remarkable particularly on account of the fame of Aesculapius, who was supposed to cure every kind of disease, and whose temple is crowded constantly with sick persons, and its walls covered with votive tablets, which are hung upon the walls, and contain accounts of the cures, in the same manner as is practised at Cos, and at Tricca. The city lies in the recess of the Saronic Gulf, with a coasting navigation of 15 stadia, and its aspect is towards the point of summer sun-rise. It is surrounded with lofty mountains, which extend to the coast, so that it is strongly fortified by nature on all sides.
Between Troezen and Epidaurus, there was a fortress Methana, and a peninsula of the same name. In some copies of Thucydides Methone is the common reading, a place of the same name with the Macedonian city, at the siege of which Philip lost an eye. Hence Demetrius of Scepsis is of opinion, that some persons were led into error by the name, and supposed that it was Methone near Troezen. It was against this town, it is said, that the persons sent by Agamemnon to levy sailors, uttered the imprecation, that they might never cease to build walls, but it was not these people; but the Macedonians, according to Theopompus, who refused the levy of men; besides, it is not probable that those, who were in the neighbourhood of Agamemnon, would disobey his orders.
Αἴγινα δʼ ἔστι μὲν καὶ τόπος τις τῆς Ἐπιδαυρίας, ἔστι δὲ καὶ νῆσος πρὸ τῆς ἠπείρου ταύτης, ἣν ἐν τοῖς ἀρτίως παρατεθεῖσιν ἔπεσι βούλεται φράζειν ὁ ποιητής· διὸ καὶ γράφουσί τινες νῆσόν τʼ Αἴγιναν ἀντὶ τοῦ οἵ τʼ ἔχον Αἴγιναν, διαστελλόμενοι τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν. ὅτι μὲν οὖν τῶν σφόδρα γνωρίμων ἐστὶν ἡ νῆσος, τί δεῖ λέγειν; ἐντεῦθεν γὰρ Αἰακός τε λέγεται καὶ οἱ ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ. αὕτη δʼ ἐστὶν ἡ καὶ θαλαττοκρατήσασά ποτε καὶ περὶ πρωτείων ἀμφισβητήσασα πρὸς Ἀθηναίους ἐν τῇ περὶ Σαλαμῖνα ναυμαχίᾳ κατὰ τὰ Περσικά. λέγεται δὲ σταδίων ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα ὁ κύκλος τῆς νήσου, πόλιν δʼ ὁμώνυμον ἔχει τετραμμένην πρὸς λίβα· περιέχουσι δʼ αὐτὴν ἥ τε Ἀττικὴ καὶ ἡ Μεγαρὶς καὶ τῆς Πελοποννήσου τὰ μέχρι Ἐπιδαύρου, σχεδόν τι ἑκατὸν σταδίους ἑκάστη διέχουσα· τὸ δὲ ἑωθινὸν μέρος καὶ τὸ νότιον πελάγει κλύζεται τῷ τε Μυρτῴῳ καὶ τῷ Κρητικῷ· νησίδια δὲ περίκειται πολλὰ μὲν πρὸς τῇ ἠπείρῳ, Βέλβινα δὲ πρὸς τὸ πέλαγος ἀνατείνουσα. ἡ δὲ χώρα αὐτῆς κατὰ βάθους μὲν γεώδης ἐστί, πετρώδης δʼ ἐπιπολῆς καὶ μάλιστα ἡ πεδιάς· διόπερ ψιλὴ πᾶσά ἐστι, κριθοφόρος δὲ ἱκανῶς. Μυρμιδόνας δὲ κληθῆναί φασιν οὐχ ὡς ὁ μῦθος τοὺς Αἰγινήτας, ὅτι λοιμοῦ μεγάλου συμπεσόντος οἱ μύρμηκες ἄνθρωποι γένοιντο κατʼ εὐχὴν Αἰακοῦ, ἀλλʼ ὅτι μυρμήκων τρόπον ὀρύττοντες τὴν γῆν ἐπισπείροιεν ἐπὶ τὰς πέτρας, ὥστʼ ἔχειν γεωργεῖν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὀρύγμασιν οἰκεῖν φειδόμενοι πλίνθων. ὠνομάζετο δʼ Οἰνώνη πάλαι ἐπῴκησαν δʼ αὐτὴν Ἀργεῖοι καὶ Κρῆτες καὶ Ἐπιδαύριοι καὶ Δωριεῖς, ὕστερον δὲ κατεκληρούχησαν τὴν νῆσον Ἀθηναῖοι· ἀφελόμενοι δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους τὴν νῆσον ἀπέδοσαν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις οἰκήτορσιν. ἀποίκους δʼ ἔστειλαν Αἰγινῆται εἴς τε Κυδωνίαν τὴν ἐν Κρήτῃ καὶ εἰς Ὀμβρικούς. Ἔφορος δʼ ἐν Αἰγίνῃ ἄργυρον πρῶτον κοπῆναί φησιν ὑπὸ Φείδωνος· ἐμπόριον γὰρ γενέσθαι, διὰ τὴν λυπρότητα τῆς χώρας τῶν ἀνθρώπων θαλαττουργούντων ἐμπορικῶς, ἀφʼ οὗ τὸν ῥῶπον Αἰγιναίαν ἐμπολὴν λέγεσθαι.
Aegina is a place in the territory of Epidaurus. There is in front of this continent, an island, of which the poet means to speak in the lines before cited. Wherefore some write, and the island Aegina, / instead of and they who occupied Aegina, / making a distinction between the places of the same name.
It is unnecessary to remark, that this island is among the most celebrated. It was the country of Aeacus and his descendants. It was this island which once possessed so much power at sea, and formerly disputed the superiority with the Athenians in the sea-fight at Salamis during the Persian war. The circuit of the island is said to be about 180 stadia. It has a city of the same name on the south-west. Around it are Attica, and Megara, and the parts of Peloponnesus as far as Epidaurus. It is distant from each about 100 stadia. The eastern and southern sides are washed by the Myrtoan and Cretan seas. Many small islands surround it on the side towards the continent, but Belbina is situated on the side towards the open sea. The land has soil at a certain depth, but it is stony at the surface, particularly the plain country, whence the whole has a bare appearance, but yields large crops of barley. It is said that the Aeginetae were called Myrmidones, not as the fable accounts for the name, when the ants were metamorphosed into men, at the time of a great famine, by the prayer of Aeacus; but because by digging, like ants, they threw up the earth upon the rocks, and were thus made able to cultivate the ground, and because they lived in excavations under-ground, abstaining from the use of bricks and sparing of the soil for this purpose.
Its ancient name was Oenone, which is the name of two of the demi in Attica, one near Eleuthera; to inhabit the plains close to Oenone, (Oenoe,) and Eleutherae; / and another, one of the cities of the Tetrapolis near Marathon, to which the proverb is applied, Oenone (Oenoe?) and its torrent. / Its inhabitants were in succession Argives, Cretans, Epidauri ans, and Dorians. At last the Athenians divided the island by lot among settlers of their own. The Lacedaemonians, however, deprived the Athenians of it, and restored it to the ancient inhabitants.
The Aeginetae sent out colonists to Cydonia in Crete, and to the Ombrici. According to Ephorus, silver was first struck as money by Pheidon. The island became a mart, the inhabitants, on account of the fertility of its soil, employing themselves at sea as traders; whence goods of a small kind had the name of Aegina wares.
ὁ δὲ ποιητὴς ἔνια μὲν χωρία λέγει συνεχῶς ὥσπερ καὶ κεῖται οἵ θʼ Ὑρίην ἐνέμοντο καὶ Αὐλίδα / οἳ δʼ Ἄργος τʼ εἶχον Τίρυνθά τε / Ἑρμιόνην τʼ Ἀσίνην τε / Τροιζῆνʼ Ἠιόνας τε. / ἄλλοτε δʼ οὐχ ὡς ἔστι τῇ τάξει σχοῖνόν τε Σκῶλόν τε / Θέσπειαν Γραῖάν τε. / τά τʼ ἐν ἠπείρῳ ταῖς νήσοις συμφράζει οἵ ῥʼ Ἰθάκην εἶχον, / καὶ Κροκύλειʼ ἐνέμοντο. / τὰ γὰρ Κροκύλεια ἐν τοῖς Ἀκαρνᾶσιν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ νῦν τῇ Αἰγίνῃ τὸν Μάσητα συνῆψεν ὄντα τῆς Ἀργολικῆς ἠπείρου. Θυρέας δὲ Ὅμηρος μὲν οὐκ ὠνόμασεν, οἱ δʼ ἄλλοι θρυλοῦσι· περὶ ὧν Ἀργείοις καὶ Λακεδαιμονίοις συνέστη ἀγὼν τριακοσίοις πρὸς τριακοσίους· ἐνίκων δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιοι στρατηγοῦντος Ὀθρυάδα· εἶναι δέ φησι τὸ χωρίον τοῦτο Θουκυδίδης ἐν τῇ Κυνουρίᾳ κατὰ τὴν μεθορίαν τῆς Ἀργείας καὶ τῆς Λακωνικῆς. εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ Ὑσίαι τόπος γνώριμος τῆς Ἀργολικῆς καὶ Κεγχρεαί, αἳ κεῖνται ἐπὶ τῇ ὁδῷ τῇ ἐκ Τεγέας εἰς Ἄργος διὰ τοῦ Παρθενίου ὄρους. Ὅμηρος δʼ αὐτὰς οὐκ οἶδεν.
The poet frequently speaks of places in succession as they are situated; they who inhabited Hyria, and Aulis; / and they who occupied Argos, and Tiryns, / Hermione, and Asine, / Troezen, and Eiones. / At other times he does not observe any order; Schoenus, and Scolus, / Thespeia, and Graea. / He also mentions together places on the continent and islands; they who held Ithaca, / and inhabited Crocyleia, / for Crocyleia is in Acarnania. Thus he here joins with Aegina Mases, which belongs to the continent of Argolis.
Homer does not mention Thyreae, but other writers speak of it as well known. It was the occasion of a contest between the three hundred Argives against the same number of Lacedaemonians; the latter were conquerors by means of a stratagem of Othryadas. Thucydides places Thyreae in Cynuria, on the confines of Argia and Laconia.
Hysiae also is a celebrated place in Argolica; and Cenchreae, which lies on the road from Tegea to Argos, over the mountain Parthenius, and the Creopolus. But Homer was not acquainted with either of these places, [nor with the Lyrceium, nor Orneae, and yet they are villages in the Argian territory; the former of the same name as the mountain there; the latter of the same name as the Orneae, situated between Corinth and Sicyon].
τῶν κατὰ Πελοπόννησον πόλεων ἐνδοξόταται γεγόνασι καὶ μέχρι νῦν εἰσιν Ἄργος τε Σπάρτη τε, διὰ δὲ τὸ πολυθρύλητον ἥκιστα δεῖ μακρολογεῖν περὶ αὐτῶν· τὰ γὰρ ὑπὸ πάντων εἰρημένα λέγειν δόξομεν. τὸ παλαιὸν μὲν οὖν ηὐδοκίμει τὸ Ἄργος μᾶλλον, ὕστερον δὲ καὶ μέχρι παντὸς ὑπερεβάλοντο Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ διετέλεσαν τὴν αὐτονομίαν φυλάττοντες, πλὴν εἴ τί που μικρὸν προσπταίειν αὐτοὺς συνέβαινεν. Ἀργεῖοι δὲ Πύρρον μὲν οὐκ ἐδέξαντο (ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ τείχους ἔπεσε γρᾳδίου τινός, ὡς ἔοικε, κεραμίδα ἀφέντος ἄνωθεν ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλήν) ὑπʼ ἄλλοις δʼ ἐγένοντο βασιλεῦσι, μετασχόντες δὲ τοῦ τῶν Ἀχαιῶν συστήματος σὺν ἐκείνοις εἰς τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἐξουσίαν ἦλθον, καὶ νῦν συνέστηκεν ἡ πόλις δευτερεύουσα τῇ τάξει μετὰ τὴν Σπάρτην.
Among the cities of the Peloponnesus, the most celebrated were, and are at this time, Argos and Sparta, and as their renown is spread everywhere, it is not necessary to describe them at length, for if we did so, we should seem to repeat what is said by all writers.
Anciently, Argos was the most celebrated, but afterwards the Lacedaemonians obtained the superiority, and continued to maintain their independence, except during some short interval, when they experienced a reverse of fortune.
The Argives did not admit Pyrrhus within the city. He fell before the walls, an old woman having let a tile drop from a house upon his head.
They were, however, under the sway of other kings. When they belonged to the Achaean league they were subjected, together with the other members of that confederacy, to the power of the Romans. The city subsists at present, and is second in rank to Sparta.
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